la vie boheme!

We went up to Portland last night with the Drakes to see 'Rent' - the original cast members Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp were reprising their lead roles as Roger and Mark! it was amazing. the girl who played Mimi was NOT amazing, but I quickly got over it, because it was 'Rent' with Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp! no cameras allowed though; I took surreptitious shots with my cell phone periodically, but they are blurry in the style of "look, it's sasquatch!"

during 'La Vie Boheme'

during 'Seasons of Love'

celebrity

of all the articles out there on Michael Jackson both celebrating and bemoaning his life and death, I like this excerpt from tomatonation.com best.

"...of course he must have known what we said about him, about the tawdriness that couldn't even manage a southern-gothic type of grandeur, although I suppose his collapsing nose is a sort of equivalent to the family manse taken over by mildew and vines.
Imagine existing in that funhouse body for ten minutes, living with the irreclaimable warping, knowing that you're a part of history, and doomed. I don't apologize for liking his music, or excuse anything else he did, but I have to wonder what the autopsy will say about his heart, and if it just broke, in the end."

they're robots. like, in disguise.

we saw Transformers last night. it was loud and flashy and macho and amped with testosterone. it was entertaining, but it lacked the wonder of the first one, simply because of its own nature as a sequel- we are not quite as astonished at how cool it is when the bots transform and fight, because we've seen it all before...

the producers/directors apparently decided that if it ain't broke, don't fix it, so they didn't change much - Shia does his thing, Megan is sexy, his parents are quirky, lots of metal and sound effects and irritatingly voiced bad guys, Michael Bay swirling camera shots so that you can't quite see what's going on, and it all ends with a Linkin Park song...

but mostly: Optimus Prime is awesome. again.

going UP

I took my dad to see 'UP' tonight, as a belated Father's Day present. it was funny...heartfelt... beautful...charming. I cried embarrassingly hard within the first ten minutes, and then laughed out loud during most of the rest of it, despite my resolution to hate the large bird. go see it. it's beautiful art, and it will move you from truly sad to truly joyous, which is the epitome of what we ask from films.

Murphy's law: anything that can go wrong...

all the 'bosses' at my work are out of town, as of this morning. so, of course all hell promptly broke loose (in the form of scheduling conflicts, unexpected funerals, and menopausal (therefore crazy) women).

bring it on, Murphy, I am fierce when my competence is challenged.

boring blogger

I have nothing exciting to blog. I've been busy, but in the boring way that I do busy - too much work, followed by a necessary hibernation period at home to recharge for... more work!

while I have been hibernating, I have enjoyed the following:

Green Day: 21st Century Breakdown. Not as good as American Idiot, better than Warning and Dookie.

Silversun Pickups: Swoon. They remind me of a more lushly layered, more earnest version of Smashing Pumpkins.

Dean Koontz: Odd Thomas. I have never read Koontz, lumping him in with authors like Clive Cussler and Tom Clancy, whose books I have no desire to read. Fortunately, I checked it out and was pleasantly surprised. I'm not saying his stuff will win awards and be enduring classics, but they're a good summer read...

John Ajvide Lindqvist: Let the Right One In. a very well-written, interesting twist on a vampire story. a little more explicit than I normally prefer or recommend, though.

Taken. a good, clean action film that doesn't mess around with complicated side plots and sub plots and whatnot - it tells you what you need to know, careens you around for an effective thrill-ride, and ends the movie 10 minutes before you even think about looking at your watch.

billie joe loves Jesus too!

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lookout!

I went camping at a fire lookout with two other co-workers for the past 3 days. I am not the best camper in the world - I don't like pit toilets, bugs, and lack of showers. I do, however appreciate the opportunity to read lots of books.

this is the place where we stayed on Green Ridge above the Metolius River. from there we could see (from left to right) Black Butte, the North and South Sisters, Mt. Washington, 3-Fingered Jack, Mt. Jefferson, and Mt. Hood.

I was dragged away from my book out on a hike. the weather was nice, which was great, and there were pretty flowers, which was nice.

there were also ticks. (every time I try to take a picture of a bug, the picture goes all blurry. I think it's the combo of my crappy cell phone camera and my shaking hands.) anyways, this is one of the many I found on my person, it's in the lower left corner of the picture, on my shoelace.